WE SURVIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We made it to England alive. Thank goodness for that. Yesterday everybody woke up surprisingly early in Dunkirk. Sorry, we forgot to write about being in France. Well... we were in France. Just Dunkirk really. So we woke up, and started getting everybody and everything ready. We packed things away because we knew from experience that when it's wavy, things seem to fly all over the place. Then, mom and dad cast off (I was supposed to, but no one told me we were leaving.) Then we went under two bridges and through a lock. I hate locks. They are so boring. And this one took about three hours. Finally, we got out onto the sea. I was thankful to get out of the lock, but I was not thankful to get out on the sea. This is the north sea by the way and there are lots of waves and lots of current and lots of ships. We talked for a bit and then Georgia fell asleep. Then Mom started not feeling well, so she went to lie down. I was reading and I felt fine. So did dad. We left at around 9:30 and at lunchtime we were around the shipping lanes in the middle of the English Channel. We weren't really sure if we were going to make it to England that day, but when we got to Calais, mom and dad decided we would keep on going. So around lunchtime, we asked mom to make us lunch. We hadn't made sandwiches before we left because we had no bread. Actually we had no food at all. Except for pasta, but I'd rather not boil water when the boat is rolling. So mom made us ham and omelette wraps. She says that it was very hard for her not to throw up the whole time she was making dinner. Georgia didn't eat all of her wrap, but after a bit she threw up.
We cleaned it up and all went back to sleep. I slept or read the rest of the way and before I knew it we were passing the White Cliffs of Dover. Then we were in Ramsgate (a.k.a. Rampage). We got landed around 3:30. That was confusing because we had re-lived an hour and we weren't sure if the clocks had changed. Apparently they had. We paid and mom got confused with the pounds. Then the girls walked around town and got groceries. We had indian food for dinner.

Today, we went to Broadstairs. I couldn't remember what it was called so I called it Fatstairs. When we were getting the bikes off the back of the boat, Georgia dropped mine in the water. It was high tide and Georgia and Dad had to go find something to get it out of the water with. They came back with hooks that they had found in a scrap pile in a boat yard. They got my bike out and it was covered in grey muck. They had to clean it and by the time we got going it was 2:30. We biked along the dodgy bikepaths, and got to Broadstairs around 3:00. We had lunch of fish and chips. Georgia and I are having a problem with speaking in a British accent when we hear other people speaking with one. After lunch we had icecream and got back to the boat by 4:00. Then Dad went to go get groceries. That's it for our adventures in England so far!!!!

(: EMILY :) is happy to be where you can buy English books!

 The purple line is the route we took roughly

Bruges

Having found Ghent to be quite spectacular, we didn't really expect Bruges to surpass it.  It did, however, and has now made it to the top of our Most Beautiful Cities in Europe list.  Virtually every corner turned reveals a quaint streetscape, charming square or picturesque canal. 


Many of the medieval buildings are still standing are and maintained in very good shape.  This does mean, however, that the city is packed with tourists and all the trappings of tourism.  The main arteries in the old city centre consist primarily of shops selling souvenirs, Belgian chocolates (the country's best chocolates being offered at virtually every shop) and waffles. 

We spent some of our time in Bruges doing chores like laundry and replacing the bicycle that was stolen in Ghent (a very expensive mistake!) and spent most of our tourist time just walking around.  The girls and I visited only one museum, a medieval hospital with artifacts and art from the late middle ages.  Needless to say, it makes us thankful to be living in the age of advanced medical science!

 

The Old and the Beautiful

After docking in Ghent, we proceeded to do absolutely nothing.  Being a constant tourist can get tiring, and sometimes you just need a day of rest.  When we got up the next day we walked toward the centre of the old town and were astounded to see how great it all was.  Among other things, Ghent boasts multiple cathedrals, all in a row, and a tremendous number of old buildings.  One of the main gathering spaces is the Graslei along the river Leie.  On each side of the river the streets are lined with old buildings, many with outdoor cafes. 
In one direction you can see the Castle of the Counts, also called Gravensteen, a story book type of castle built in the 1400s.  This is now a museum that allows you to wander the rooms, some displaying artifacts of battle (full suits of armour and the like) and some showing off devices of torture (we skipped this room).  You can also climb to the top and look down on the city below.



While we were in Ghent we also visited the Museum of Design.  This establishment cleverly placed a series of playmobile characters around the museum and required the kids to find the characters hidden amongst the objet d'art.   We also visited the Museum of Textiles, as Ghent's claim to fame is the production of fabric and its distribution around Europe.  We also took the requisite canal boat tour and ate a box of Belgian chocolates.